At 10 Prest. J. preached on 2nd Peter Ch 1. He shewed that
knowledge is power & the man who has the most knowledge has the greatest power.
Also that salvation means a mans being placed beyond the powers of all his enemies.
He said the more sure word of prophecy meant a mans knowing that he is sealed up
unto eternal life by revelation & the spirit of prophecy through the power of the
Holy priesthood.1 He also showed that it is impossible
for a man to be saved in ignorance. Paul had seen the third heavens and I more. Peter
penned the most sublime language of any of the apostles.

Wednesday Evening

Correction of Bible - Genesis 2:7

In the evening we went to hear a Methodist preacher lecture. After he got
through Pres. J. offered some corrections as follows. The 7th verse of
C 2 of Genesis2
ought to read God breathed into Adam his spirit or breath
of life, but when the word "ruach" applies to Eve it should be translated lives.

Matter Eternal - Spirit is Matter

Speaking of eternal duration of matter he I said. There is no such thing as
immaterial matter. All spirit is matter but is more fine or pure and can only be
discerned by purer eyes. We cant see it but when our bodies are purified we shall
see that it is all matter.3

Notes

1. The theme here follows those earlier sermons on the 14th
chapter of the Gospel of John. The temple ordinances had progressed to offering
the sealing of husband and wife. It would not be until the fall of
1843 that Emma and Joseph would be sufficiently reconciled over polygamy that
he would initiate the ordinance hinted at here.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The Book of Abraham reads:

And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit
(that is, the man's spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

3. This repeats the pronouncement from the April 1, 1842 Times and
Seasons ariticle (see 1Apr42). What does "matter" mean here? "More fine"
probably refers to Joseph's personal observations. But it is possible that in
terms of physics, "spirit" matter is something quite different than run of the
mill "crude" atomic matter with electron shells and nuclei, etc. Indeed, the
blurring of matter and energy suggested by physical theory and experiment makes
such statements far from simple. The knowledge of how things fit together
waits for further enlightenment.